Session 07
Game date April 16, 2011 Game notes +5 XP from last session. Game log June 20th * To recap. We've been in the jungle 3 weeks. Luo has succumbed to fever, but everyone else is mostly healthy. * More dreams, see the wiki. Slightly more disturbed and worrying that usual. ** Brad: "Lynch, you jerk awake to the sounds of Chaos..." ** Brendan: "Yeah, I do!" * We estimate another week's travel to get to Bakairí post. Luo gets a lighter packload. * Another week of body & mind checks to carry the loads and sleep. Josh gets a big failure, but rolls some other check and doesn't get sicker. Nothing else seems to happen to the rest of us. June 27th * We reach Bakairí post. It's a handful of huts within a rotting fence. The Bakairí tribe ostensibly runs the post. The are fields of rice and manioc nearby. The Bakairí are identifiable as the natives wearing khaki. There are people from other tribes deeper in the jungle. Everything is a bit dirty and ragged. * Valdemira, the guy in charge of the camp, says that there's not a whole lot of room here, but if everyone's willing to get cozy, there's probably room in the schoolhouse. The schoolhouse is only about 6-7 years old, and even that might be high with the wear and tear. He gives us a brief tour of the area. The Bakairí were one of the first tribes to become acculturated to the Portuguese. The tribe is down to just under 100 souls. * There is a trading square with a fair number of the amulets scattered around. (Still the largely unnoticed divide.) There's basketweaving. ** Luo gets Clayton to help find plants to aid in dealing with fever. We get info on a poultice to help drive out the spirits causing Luo's fever, though he can't do anything about the eye. ** Clayton asks after the amulets. Kenti (pink) and Perman (green) tribes are the closest who come by with them on a regular basis. Both hail to the north with the Kenti a little more to the East. * There are some non-Bakairí tribes at the post. Starkweather and Moore are off on one side speaking to some fierce looking tribesmen carrying around bows and arrows. Bone carvings in the hair and body paint. Moore is acting as a translator. ** Starkweather is trying to get more guides to go further into the jungle. He's also trying to get info on Colonel Fawcett. ** They are members of the Nikak tribe. They aren't too happy at the prospect of guiding so many people such a long distance. There are many dangerous and hostile villages between here and there. ** The expedition has some fancy jewelry for trade, but they are pretty insistent that they want firearms. Moore seems okay with letting go a few, but Starkweather is insistent that we keep them all. In the end, they agree to give two rifles. * There's an evening meeting. Evie and Joan get an office to sleep in while the rest of us use the classrooms. We'll be staying for a few days to rest and recuperate. Starkweather mentions that it's been easy going so far. It only gets harder as we get off the beaten path. He's contracted with a tribe to guide us along the path that Fawcett went before. He expects that we'll meet our quarry along the way. * Luo uses his creepy eye to look at people's auras. The Bakairí have a sort of spiritual malaise and are unhealthy. The Portuguese Brazilian in charge of the camp is fading due to alcoholism, and a few of the people on the edge of the camp jump out the same way with some sort of possession as the people in Cuiabá. This is slightly different, though. It's like vines drawing sustenance from them and digging into them. Most of the people from outside the village are pretty healthy, though. ** Luo asks Clayton to find out who they are. He asks around about the people who stay outside the camp. Most the people from outside the village don't want to talk about them. The local Bakairí say they're probably members of the Suya tribe. They think they may be ill. ** Luo checks up on the Sorensons. No real occult tells, but they haven't been as plagued by insects as other people. * Clayton investigates local religions. The Bakairí are Christian. The Nikak are a shamanistic, animistic religion. Take the form of conduits to the gods rather than direct divine beings. * Clayton tries talking to the Suya. They ignore him at first and only peek out after he tries again in the local pidgin. There's some muttering in a language that seems like the local ones but both more clipped and sibilant. They say it's too bright, and Clayton offers to come back at night. * Clayton comes back later and speaks. (Outside during a smoke break.) They worship Zhathog, the Earth-Father, the being in the green amulets. Zhathog sleeps beneath the Earth after a battle long ago with forgotten gods. If we awakens, they will rejoice and he will fill the Earth with his people. They are here searching for the green amulets because they were taken from their village by their enemies. Those who make the pink stones are enemies, but it's not clear whether these are the same enemies, and they don't keep track of the names of those who are soon to die. They stick to their tent during the day because traveling so far from home has left them with a fever that makes them pained by the light. (I was invited into the tent, but I can't really see them.) I offered them back one of their amulets, but they told me I could keep it. The amulets are meant to share the blessings of their god. They have heard many legends of Fawcett -- a man who consorts with demons, a friend to men, or an untrustworthy mystery. They do not know his fate. * As Evie and I leave, when Evie comes through the door a shaft of light illuminates the speakers. Both seem to have some sort of skin disease. One is kind of rough and scaly the other is more smooth and tight/thick, and his nose looks kind of funny and receded. June 28th * We set back out into the jungle with our Nikak escorts. More checks. June 29th * Joan pulls Evie over. She admits she has one thing to confess to her. She hasn't been entirely honest from the beginning. Her name isn't Joan Fisher, it's Joan Fawcett. She says she has reason to believe that the previous expedition sent after her father was deliberately misled. Her father was paranoid and lied about the path he took. She claims she has copies of her notes and letters her father sent to her mother. ** We're still on the right path so far, but we'll need to head east from Dead Horse Camp. The real path is 100 miles off course from where we are heading. ** They go to speak with Dr. Russel. He asks why Brian went on the wrong path. She responds that he may not have read the letters & journals. The copies she has of info are in her handwriting, and we now have many copies of the green pendant her father sent back to her. She has copies of the original proposed route and a journal with a very different route. It also mentions a code used to write to her mother (in German) and translations of some of the letters. ** We talk for a while about how to prove her ID, and she mentions that the secretary of the RGS might be able to vouch for her. June 30th * The next day, we rope in Thomas to send off the message. Another day passes. Luo has come down with another fever and has suppurating sores. He has some sort of worm parasites in the thigh and bicep. * The next night, we're attacked by vampire bats. We have cuts and wounds on anything exposed, like foreheads and arms. Dr. Russel and a few others, like Charles Meyers and his assistants weren't bitten. July 1st * The night after, army ants crawl all over and destroy our netting. * Our guides camp separately. Kleiser, the linguist mostly takes notes, but his assistant Conrad and Dr. Russel chat with the guides occasionally. Dr. Russel asks how they keep away the bugs and other flying creatures at night without netting. They burn certain woods that give off noxious smokes. One is a dried vine. As for attacks by ants, they seek out and destroy hives near the village. When hunting, they simply move away. July 2nd * We get back a message from the RGS which gives a description of Joan Fawcett, and it mentions that she took several of the classes on exploring. * A 14"-16" green snake suddenly hisses at Dr. Russel. He freezes and acts non- threatening. The snake sniffs a bit (tongues the air) and then darts off. About 10' away, it bites Willard Griffith, the zoologist. We call over the team's herpetologist and describe the snake. He says there are a few options, some more deadly than the other. ** Unfortunately, the snake is a jararaca, a deadly type of pit viper. Willard is kept on morphine, but he swells up and dies by evening. July 3rd * Starkweather has him buried. Owen objects to burying him because it's a waste of time. Starkweather says that he's a member of this expedition, and he deserves a decent burial. We have his assistant prepare some of his personal effects to send home. * While preparing for burial, bugs begin to swarm the body and us. Bugs seem to avoid Dr. Russel. Luo eventually notices this sign and checks out Clayton. Lynch is also not particularly being affected by bugs, and neither are the Sorenson brothers and the linguist and his assistants, and neither is Joan. The guides chew some sort of leaves and aren't bothered by bugs. Luo gestures to the leaves, and they point out the plant. Apparently, it tastes AWFUL. * That night, Dr. Russel speaks with Moore and convinces him to listen to Joan Fawcett. Moore wishes to keep her identity quiet. They speak, and he's convinced by how close the coordinates that the journal suggests to turn at and where Brian Fawcett turned off at are in latitude. * Meanwhile, Luo's parasite infestation has begun to clear. The Nikak have given him some medicine to treat the wound. July 5th * Two nights later, there is an attack. ** Brad: "So Owen, what watch do you normally take?" ** Brendan: "Whoever's leaves theirs around." * The real answer is 12-2 AM. He's up with Sykes on watch. Two thunking sounds echo in the night. One close to him and one on the other side of the camp. He and Sykes try to figure out what's going on. Sykes gets shot by something, and everyone is woken up to gunshots. * A group of men armed with heavy carved clubs rushes out of the jungle and attacks Owen. After taking a few swings, one hits him, and another group of natives comes screaming out of the jungles. Owen shoots one, and the other on him looks for a new target. * Meanwhile, Dr. Russel, the Sorensons, Starkweather, and others get ready and get into position to fire back. A few shots go off, and some of the attackers are shot. Owen and Clayton get off some shots. One enemy drops. Some of the NPCs fire at each other, and Starkweather gets a wound to the arm. * Another exchange happens, and some of our people start dropping with arrow wounds. Earl Masters & Anthony Johnson. We hear some sort of horrid screeching sound from the forest. Starkweather gets tagged again. Owen blows someone's head up and makes a Violence resist check. One of the natives clubs someone hunkering on the ground. * Something huge and terrifying crashes through the undergrowth. A huge, eyeless snake with a serrated beak. The lower jaws of each beak separate into mandibles. Then the other one comes out too. As they come out, it becomes clear that these are part of one being. Where the necks join is a nest of eyes and antennae bristling with quivering cilia where the head should be. The hide is iridescent and gleams with an odd sheen. It has many more legs than it should, clawed and articulated, piercing the jungle floor. Translucent tentacles protrude from its back, twitching skyward. It's thrashing tail tears at the jungle behind its segmented body. It shrieks at us and rushes into the camp. * Luo freezes in terror, while Owen and Evie fly into a terrified frenzy. A few people shoot at the horror to no effect. The native invaders stop their attacks and begin to drag off our wounded (and not theirs). The creature opens its mouth and starts making some sort of fwoomphing noises. The tentacles on its backs quiver and it floats a little into the air and grabs some bodies as well as Evie. ** Thomas flings one of Owen's pipe bombs at the creature. The last thing Evie sees is a bright flash, and then there is a door way and her father welcoming her home. ** The heads of the creatures are mostly destroyed in the deafening blast, and green ichor sprays the entire camp as the beast rockets upwards and screeches away. The remaining upright invading natives fall to the ground, clutching their heads. ** Lynch and Russel have an excruciating pain in their skulls. Russel does notice that the creature vaguely resembled in part, the green amulet. * Dr. Russel tries some counseling first aid for Luo and Owen but fails. Category:Session Logs